Principal of the Year talks teacher pay, achievement gap Chapel Hill News A: I try to balance the instructional leadership and the organizational leadership (by) valuing instructional time and creating positive conditions for learning, while at the...

1. Learning is shifting from individual-based to collaborative 2. Learning is moving from passive to active 3. Differentiated learning is on the rise 4. Attention spans are shorter as technology leads...

Principals Pressed for Time to Lead Instructional Change Education Week News Though teachers at Grand Blanc receive written feedback on their lessons and instruction following each classroom visit, it won't be until May, after the third and final...

As teachers today we are told that we must teach our students and help them construct "enduring understanding", providing them with the ability to transfer knowledge from one subject area to another subject area. We are also told that we should personalize education, requiring us to know the strengths and weaknesses and incorporate this into our lessons. And let's not forget that we must also assess our students. How can we make our assessments help students with content retention? This post focuses on this question, and provides five suggestions on ways to do this.

The first three suggestions are:

Tests Where Notes or Textbooks are Permitted

Take-Home Tests

Student-Made Tests

These types of tests may take more time to create but they have the ability to be written so that students have to do more than memorize information. There is more information on this in the post.

The next suggestion is:

Projects Pre-Approved by the Teacher

This requires that students demonstrate mastery of the subject. This will require the student to create (a 21st century goal) and additional information is in the post, including a discussion of what this might look like.

The final suggestion is:

Revisions and Retests to Build Skillsets

This section discusses what we may do to help out student build their skillsets through feedback and opportunities to construct accurate information.

As you read this post you may begin to consider alternative ways to assess your students that help them with content retention.

As teachers today we are told that we must teach our students and help them construct "enduring understanding", providing them with the ability to transfer knowledge from one subject area to another subject area. We are also told that we should personalize education, requiring us to know the strengths and weaknesses and incorporate this into our lessons. And let's not forget that we must also assess our students. How can we make our assessments help students with content retention? This post focuses on this question, and provides five suggestions on ways to do this.

The first three suggestions are:

Tests Where Notes or Textbooks are PermittedTake-Home TestsStudent-Made Tests

These types of tests may take more time to create but they have the ability to be written so that students have to do more than memorize information. There is more information on this in the post.

The next suggestion is:

Projects Pre-Approved by the Teacher

This requires that students demonstrate mastery of the subject. This will require the student to create (a 21st century goal) and additional information is in the post, including a discussion of what this might look like.

The final suggestion is:

Revisions and Retests to Build Skillsets

This section discusses what we may do to help out student build their skillsets through feedback and opportunities to construct accurate information.

As you read this post you may begin to consider alternative ways to assess your students that help them with content retention.

The State Melissa Sargent: Common Core puts kids on an even playing field Capital Times As a child growing up in Madison I moved around a lot. My family moved so often that I changed schools four times before fifth grade.

Hillsborough art classes adopt Common Core approachTbo.comTAMPA – The students in Nicole Carpenter's Photography 1 class at Plant City High School may not have not heard much about the Common Core State Standards.

"In this quick post I want to share with you this beautiful interactive image on the SAMR model. I learned about this resource from a tweet shared by our colleague David Fife. As you can see from the image below, iPadders provided examples of how to use each classroom task according to the different SAMR categories. And in each category, a set of apps and tools are provided to help you carry out the task under study. I invite you to have a look and share with your colleagues. Enjoy"

I've heard a lot about SMAR but never really taken the time to look into it. It might be time now that I'm looking at integrating more technology into my classroom. This model clearly supports technology and expects the use of it.

Explains a lot about how digital tech can help, though on investigation this seems to be a model developed seemingly from nowhere without much academic work behind it. Example of a simple model stating the obvious? Does it matter that it's origins are hazy? Having had the chance to look into it and its creator, it's interesting to note how popular it is and how accepted it is, without much critique. Is it really that great a model?! Just wondering! Raises a lot of questions.

"When it comes to personalized learning, there’s one area we tend to neglect whether we realize it or not, and that area is cultural background. Despite the fact that students are constantly engaged in a complex transformation of culturally influenced identity–which in many cases can have a major impact on academic performance–instructors seldom respond to cultural needs the way they respond to psychological, behavioral, or social characteristics."

This post is split into three sections. The first section looks at the term "culturally responsive instruction" and provides not only a definition but also a list of ten characteristics that provide a more robust understanding.

The second section provides a look at "common assumptions placed on students from other cultures." Eleven common misconceptions are shared (based on research from the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning at the University of Michigan.

The final section has 30 recommended instructional strategies. The post states "The cultural inclusiveness of a learning environment will depend upon the kinds of interactions that occur among you and your students." The post discusses the various types of interactions that may take place and then provides a lit of the recommended strategies. Three are listed below. All are briefly discussed in the post.

*Anticipate possible responses to controversial topics.

* Be ready to challenge assumptions that groups will either be aided or hindered by having certain kinds of students in their group.

* Include, as much as possible, materials written or created by people of different backgrounds and/or perspectives.

As the number of ELL increases in schools within the United States the need for us to be aware of cultural diversity increases. This post provides many suggestions that will be helpful in helping you to meet the needs of these students.

"What insights would you gain if you asked 13 innovators (architects, artists, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and a media savvy baker) what they would urge educators and parents to do to best develop the next generation of innovators and creative thinkers?"

This post shares 12 insights from a variety of innovators. What are some of their ideas? (Ideas below quoted from the post)

* Realize that Out of School time tends to be more inspiring and powerful ...

* Provide unique Experiences that surprise and allow children to see things from new perspectives...

* Refining the skill of Asking Questions is the fuel that ignites innovators...

The post includes some sharing of how innovators explored in their own unique ways as children. You will also find one short video of an innovator sharing their story as well as a link to eleven videos from the conference Innovators to Educators. This post may bring some fresh ideas to use with students of all ages.

School Board adds $100 per teacher to help pay for instructional supplies Ocala Marion County School District officials announced on Thursday that 2,800 teachers will each receive a $100 credit to pay for instructional supplies in 2014-15, a move...

UF joins online university consortium Gainesville Sun As founding investors, UF, Michigan, Indiana and Colorado State each will contribute $1 million over three years to finance the required infrastructure for creating a common learning management...

"The following infographic from dailygenius.com makes sense, then, in that context of being able to sketch out what might be required of a digitally-savvy and competent teacher. (You can give dailygenius a follow on twitter as well."

SCIENCE TEACHERS: WATCH THIS VIDEO! This is a great video that explains what students gain from watching videos dealing with science concepts. Watch this and use the information to choose great videos. Or add components to the videos you already watch to help make sure your students will learn.

Project-based learning continues to be misinterpreted as a single teaching strategy rather than as a set of design principles that allow us to introduce the philosophy of inquiry into education in an intelligent and grounded way. It’s time to not only address the flaws in PBL, but to reinvent it in a way that leads to deeper learning, creative inquiry, and a better fit with a collaborative world in which doing and knowing are one thing.

So how would one go about reinterpreting project-based learning? This post explores this idea in depth, providing five key areas where change must occur, and detailing one to five additional ideas that will help move project-based learning to a "philosophy of inquiry." What are the five key areas?

1. Put PBL on a continuum of inquiry.

2. Blend surface knowledge and deeper learning.

3. Start with a sophisticated student-centered culture.

4. Make collaboration as important in school as it is in life.

5. Understand that PBL cannot be done alone.

If you are using project-based learning, or are considering implementing project-based learning next year take the time to check out this post. There are many great ideas that will lead our students to "deeper learning, creative inquiry, and a better fit with a collaborative world in which doing and knowing are one thing."

Monroe Middle School teacher Dawn Norris hears a difference in her language arts classes since she starting using Common Core standards two years ago. It’s how the 13-year teacher knows the new standards are working.

"In this posting, we’ll look at options to increase the depth of your instruction. What you’ll notice throughout the activities is a shift to student ownership of learning, as well as the need to think at higher levels to complete the activities."

Are you looking for ways to increase rigor in your classroom? This post provides three strategies as well as a number of examples to help you. The strategies are:

1. Design With Inquiry & Diversity

2. Have Students Create Videos–From Beginning To End

3. Use Virtual Tours

Additional detail is available in the post for each of the strategies and suggestions for adding rigor in ELA and math is also discussed. In fact, the final paragraph states asking "students to write riddles about words, rather than having them simply write a definition...requires students to think at higher levels to complete the activity." Adding rigor may not be as difficult as might think...but it may require that we rethink how we are teaching.

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